Strategic Elements up nearly 60% on R&D breakthrough

Strategic Elements (ASX:SOR) is up 58% in early afternoon trades as the company reports a breakthrough in its nanotechnology R&D towards the creation of electricity from air moisture.

Working alongside R&D partner University of New South Wales (UNSW), Strategic Elements believes it has discovered a pathway towards scaling up the nano-scale technology in a commercially viable fashion.

The creation of electricity from air moisture has been a theoretical staple of speculative renewable technologies for a number of years.

However, a study published in the journal Nature in 2020 reported a significant development in the capacity of industry to develop products allowing for small amounts of voltage to remain stable for over twenty hours.

That 2020 study was worked on by researchers at the University of Massachusetts in the US and created voltage of 0.4-0.6 volts.

Pictured: UMass campus in Boston

Developments since 2020

Some two years later, Strategic Elements claims itself and UNSW has identified a way to allow ampere-hour range (in other words, one one-thousandth of a kilowatt hour.)

While the technology remains novel, and not at all ready to power any modern electric devices, the company has figured out how to scale up the technology to such extent it will now print 36sq.cm cells onto flexible plastic for further testing with results expected in Q3 of CY22.

The company's confidence is perhaps best exemplified in the fact Strategic Elements is now progressing its 'Energy Ink' and 'Powered by Moisture' product trademarks with the Australian Intellectual Property authority.

Net zero ambitions? Nope. Try healthcare

Interestingly, Strategic Elements is not targeting renewable energy applications for its air moisture tech, but rather the healthcare market: Electronic Skin Patches, used in physiological testing in both health and sports science, reflect a key target market for the company.

Strategic Elements notes it is not the first to manufacture a 36sq.cm cell for electronic skin patches, but, it claims that with the help of UNSW, it can produce a cell up to 3 square metres in size.

Presentation in coming weeks, further results in Q3 2022

Ahead of pending test results to be delivered between June and September, the company will also throw a presentation in the coming weeks to outline its research and forward plans.

With the additional support of funding from Canberra under its belt, it is perhaps clear why Strategic Elements has won the fancy of the market today.

Woah, Nelly! Strategic Elements' charts reflect dramatic upward turn on the market today